Cultural Intelligence (CQ): Why We Need It More Than Ever

By Shlomo Maital   

     Cultural intelligence (CQ) is an individual’s ability to function effectively in culturally diverse settings, and to get along with those different from oneself.  It was introduced by London Business School professor P. Christopher Earley and Nanyang Business School professor Soon Ang in 2003.

        David Livermore has written a book, entitled “The Cultural Intelligence Difference: Master the One Skill You Can’t Do Without in Today’s Global Economy”, describing four key components of CQ: drive, knowledge, strategy and action.  It is based on Earley and Soon’s four concepts: motivation (CQ Drive), cognition (CQ Knowledge), meta-cognition (CQ Strategy), and behavior (CQ Action).  

       The four capabilities stem from the intelligence-based approach to intercultural adjustment and performance.

          So, we began with IQ, intelligence.  Then, EQ, feelings and emotions.  And now, CQ, cultural.  Reason and rationality.  Dealing with the ‘other’.   Each has primacy according to the times and the context. 

          In the US, increasingly, people have lost trust in government and governmental institutions.  Gallup reported that in 2022,  “this year’s poll makes new lows in confidence for all three branches of US federal government; Supreme Court (25% trust it), Presidency (23%) and Congress.”   What Gallup did not ask is – do we trust each other?  The answer seems to be, alas,  no. 

           Within the workplace, frictions develop between those who support the right (Trump) and the left (Biden/Harris).  Neither side trusts the other.  It reminds me of Tom Lehrer’s old satirical song, The Merry Minuet:

           “They’re rioting in Africa, They’re starving in Spain, There’s hurricanes in Florida, And Texas needs rain. This whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans, The Germans hate the Poles. Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch —  And I don’t like anybody very much.”

           The Merry Minuet was written in 1955.  That was an era of harmony.  Notice how apt the words are (‘hurricanes in Florida”).  Somehow, great satire has a way of coming true. Alas.